Implantable medical devices are now in wide use for treating a variety of diseases. Cardiac rhythm management devices, for example, are implantable devices that provide electrical stimulation to the heart in order to treat disorders of cardiac rhythm. A pacemaker, for example, is a cardiac rhythm management device that paces the heart with timed pacing pulses, while an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator (ICD) is a device that provides defibrillation shock therapy to the heart. It is also common for cardiac rhythm management devices to combine both of these functions. These devices are usually implanted into the chest or abdominal wall with electrode leads connected to the device then passed transvenously into the heart. It is desirable for an implanted device to be as compact and physiologically-shaped as possible so as to minimize discomfort to the patient. Cardiac rhythm management devices, as well as other types of implantable medical devices, are powered by a battery contained within the housing of the device. The size and shape of a battery which supplies sufficient power to operate the device is one factor which affects how small and physiologically-shaped the housing of the device can be made. The present disclosure relates to a battery and method for its construction which is suitable for use in an implantable medical device and which affords a designer greater degrees of freedom in packaging the device components into a housing than can be obtained with previous batteries.